Bank of America Raises Minimum Wage to $24 per Hour for US Workers

FA customer uses an ATM at a Bank of America branch in Boston, Mass., on Oct. 11, 2017. Brian Snyder/Reuters

Bank of America announced on Tuesday that it has raised its minimum wage in the United States to $24 per hour.

The raise will apply to both full-time and part-time workers in the United States, the bank said in a statement. This is an increase from the bank’s hourly pay of $23, which it had set in September last year.

The bank said the latest raise will bring the minimum annual salary for full-time workers to nearly 50,000. The company did not specify how many workers will benefit from the raise.

Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the nation, aimed to reach a minimum wage of $25 per hour by 2025. The bank began increasing its minimum hourly pay seven years ago, starting from $15.

Sheri Bronstein, the bank’s chief human resources officer, said last year that the company will invest in “a variety of benefits” to attract and develop a skilled workforce.

“Providing a competitive minimum wage is core to being a great place to work—and I am proud that Bank of America is leading by example,” Bronstein said in a statement on Sept. 10.

The federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour. Real median household income in the country rose by 4 percent, to $80,610 last year, up from $77,540 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This marked the first annual increase in real median household income—which is adjusted for inflation—since 2019, the bureau said on Sept. 10. It stated that the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four was $30,900 last year.

Banks Struggling to Retain Young Workers

A 2023 survey by global consulting firm Crowe found that nearly 65 percent of the 388 financial services organizations that participated in the survey struggled with retaining younger talent last year.

The survey found that officer-level turnover in these organizations increased from 3.2 percent in 2021 to more than 6.5 percent last year. The main factors contributing to the increased turnover rate at banks were a lack of career development and inadequate total compensation, according to the report.

“A competitive job market has allowed both new and existing talent to evaluate what’s important,” John Epperson, managing principal of financial services at Crowe, said in a press release.

“Banks aren’t just competing for talent among their peers anymore—they’re often going head to head with organizations and industries that may offer more entrepreneurial experiences, flexibility and nontraditional accommodations,” Epperson added.

The report stated that pay increases in the banking industry began to normalize to pre-pandemic levels last year, with raises tied to employee performance. The average salary increase for employees who met expectations was 4.5 percent in 2023, compared with 8.5 percent in 2022.